One of the more interesting trivia tidbits for the movie Shrek was how, after the principal animation was finished, Mike Myers requested to redo all of his lines in a Scottish accent. This change required months of additional work and over a million dollars in expenses, but the result was the creation of one of the most memorable animated characters in recent memory. Myers' decision, though it must have had the Dreamworks honchos breaking out in hives at the time, was a shrewd one. He knew where his strengths were from experience.
So I Married an Axe Murderer is the story of Charlie Mackenzie (Mike Myers), who works as a...well, we actually never find out his job, so nevermind. Our only real focus is on his love life, which is constantly starting and stopping due to his fear of commitment. Along comes Harriet Michaels (Nancy Travis), a beautiful butcher who enters his life and his heart. He begins to think she is the one until he sees some similarity between her and a serial husband murderer he's read about. His best friend Tony (Anthony LaPaglia) thinks he's making excuses like he always does, but he may just be deadly right this time.
Charlie's parents May (Brenda Fricker) and Stuart (Myers, again) also appear in the movie. Though only May has any bearing on the plot, it's Stuart that audiences center on. For any fan of Saturday Night Live, Stuart is immediately recognizable as another version of sketch character Angus, the cranky owner of a store called "All Things Scottish". For a lot of us, this is where we first got to know Myers' "Cranky Scot" character, which he would use variances of as the title character in the Shrek films and Fat Bastard in the Austin Powers films.
It's in this film, though, that he possibly has the most fun with it. Stuart festoons his house with pictures of Scottish celebrities and plays the Bay City Rollers to the annoyance of his neighbors. He then sits in his chair and proceeds to speak in astounded terms of how large the head of his other son, Willie, is. "That boy's head is like Sputnik," he says to Tony at one point. "Spherical but quite pointy at parts." He's a classic cranky old man with a Scottish twist, and he's hilarious.
Why have I spent two paragraphs talking about a minor supporting character before discussing the main character? Because, quite frankly, Charlie is boring. Myers' constant mugging for the camera and laughing at his own jokes tends to get old real quick, whereas Stuart is completely oblivious to anything funny that he says or does, making him funnier for it. I suppose you could call the phenomenon the "Austin Powers/Dr. Evil Ratio", as I had the same reaction to those two characters as well. A true indicator of what works is LaPaglia himself. In the first scene at the local coffehouse, he laughs amiably at Charlie's overreaction to his coffee mug size. Later on, when Stuart goes on about the size of his son's head, LaPaglia looks genuinely in hysterics.
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Article comments
1 - dean
Stuart's rant about the addictiveness of Kentucky Fried Chicken and his paranoid world conspiracy "there's a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as The Pentaveret, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows"
Those alone make the movie worth watching...that and his cry of "we 'ave a piper doon" at the wedding scene!
2 - Eric Berlin
I agree, Alonzo: this is one those movies where the whole equals less than the sum of its parts, but it's a fun ride nonetheless. There's a lot of really good minor roles and performances here (LaPaglia, Charles Grodin, Ed Asner... I believe? As the police chief who desperately wants to act tough... that part cracks me up every time).
I like the scenes in the jazz/spoken word club and the Scottish scenes are great. I know, when stuck in traffic or stuck behind annoying people in a crowded area, I'll mutter, "Head! Move!"
But the actual plot is a bit rote and boring.
Myers is always fun to watch, even when he's not being terribly interesting. And there's a lot at work in this film to keep you entertained.
3 - DrPat
This is one of the few movies I have on both VHS and DVD. When have only a few minutes, I can pop in the DVD and jump straight to Stuart's bits.
Unlike Alonzo, though, I thought Charlie was funny throughout, in that self-deprecating moue-to-the-camera way that Myers has perfected.
4 - Phillip Winn
THis is easily one of my favorite movies, and Stuart is a large part of why.
"His head is so big it has its own weather system!"
5 - Lono
It's like an orange on a toothpick
That scene from the movie involving Myers as the father character is the funniest 3 minutes in the history of film.
father: Oh,I hate the Colonel, with his wee beedy little eyes saying 'I your gonna buy my chicken now aren't ya?'
son: Dad, how can you hate the Colonel?
father: Because he puts an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly, smartass!
6 - DrPat
Thanks for the reminders, all - now that rerun season has begun, I'm gonna watch the WHOLE MOVIE tonight.
7 - Scottydog
anyone got a picture of stuart shouting "lets get pissed" please forward it to me (if reading after 10th Aug 05 please ignore) Ta
Scott fae Scotland!
8 - Scottydog
CANCEL ABOVE! FOUND ONE! Thanks